The Super Sentai Series(スーパー戦隊シリーズ,Sūpā Sentai Shirīzu?) is the name given to the long-running Japanese superhero team genre of shows produced by Toei Co., Ltd., Toei Agency and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi ("Super" refers to their use of mecha, and "sentai" is the Japanese word for "task force" or, literally, "fighting squadron" and was also a term used for Japanese squadrons in World War II).[citation needed] The shows are of the tokusatsu genre, featuring live action characters and colorful special effects, and are mainly aimed at children. The Super Sentai Series is one of the most prominent tokusatsu productions in Japan, alongside the Ultra Series and the Kamen Rider Series, which it currently airs alongside in the Super Hero Time programming block on Sundays. Outside Japan, the Super Sentai Series is best known as the source material for the Power Rangers franchise.

In every Super Sentai television series, the fight between good and evil is illustrated. The protagonists are a team of people with superpowers (color-coded uniforms, advanced weapons and martial arts skills), gained by using a transformation device & transformation call, who battle an antagonist group of evil beings threatening to take over the Earth. In every episode, the team confronts and defeats an army of enemy soldiers and the "monster of the week" to thwart the antagonists plans, and in one last effort to defeat the heroes, an enlarged version of the monster appears to confront them, just to be defeated again when they call for huge robotic machines ("mecha") that can combine to form one or more giant robots to fight it. While each Super Sentai Series is set in its own fictional universe, a number of TV, video and film specials feature a teaming up between one or more Sentai including the current team.

In Brazil, the first Super Sentai Series to air was Dengeki Sentai Changeman in 1988 on TV Manchete (now RedeTV!), and it made a tremendous impact at the time, being considered a cult classic.[citation needed] Due to the success of Changeman, other series were imported, such as Choushinsei Flashman, Hikari Sentai Maskman and Dai Sentai Goggle V. In place of later series in the franchise, the yearly iterations of the Power Rangers were dubbed into Brazilian Portuguese due to a general lower interest in tokusatsu programming in Brazil, as well as financial and bureaucratic issues.[citation needed]

Various Sentai Series such as Fiveman and Choushinsei Flashman were also broadcast in Malaysia sometime in the 1990s dubbed in English. Almost all Super Sentai Shows were broadcast in Thailand since the 1980s; there, most new shows were exclusively broadcast on Channel 9 a year late from its Japanese debut in the late 1980s to early 1990s until Power Rangers replaced Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger in the mid-1990s. Since then, the series have appeared on various channels. Hong Kong airs Super Sentai Shows three years after their original Japanese release and dubs them in Cantonese. In Indonesia, many Super Sentai series have been broadcast on RCTI, Indosiar, and SCTV, dubbed into Indonesian.

J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai was the first Sentai Series to be shown in the Philippines in the late-1970s, but it was Himitsu Sentai Gorenger (retitled Star Rangers) that most fans are familiar with (Both shown in RPN-9). Just as in France and Brazil, Choudenshi Bioman (first aired in ABS-CBN and the last tokusatsu dubbed in English in the country) and Hikari Sentai Maskman (the first Super Sentai Series dubbed in Filipino by the IBC-13 network) were broadcast in the Philippines in the 1980s. In fact, Choudenshi Bioman was so popular that many people from that generation came to associate all the Super Sentai series as continuations of it. During the early 90's, some other series were shown, such as Kousoku Sentai Turboranger, Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman, Choujin Sentai Jetman and Dai Sentai Goggle V.

In 1995, ABS-CBN aired Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on its Friday night children's show block. From then on, the American franchise was preferred over the Japanese versions. The Japanese series remained available, however, in some cable channels that specialize on anime and other tokusatsu shows.

In 1993, Haim Saban produced the first installment of the Power Rangers franchise by dubbing the action sequences from 1992's Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger and filming new footage with American actors for the story sequences. This trend has continued, with each successive Super Sentai show contributing the action sequences to the Power Rangers series the following year.[11]

Saban Brands announced on May 12, 2010 that it had brought back the rights to the Power Rangers franchise and planned to premiere a new season based on Samurai Sentai Shinkenger on the Nickelodeon network.[12][13] The series premiered on February 2011 as Power Rangers Samurai. In 2014, Saban adapted Tensou Sentai Goseiger and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger into Power Rangers Megaforce and Super Megaforce, respectively.[citation needed]

At the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International, Shout! Factory, who has the exclusive DVD rights to seasons one through seventeen of Power Rangers, announced that they would release Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger subtitled on DVD in the U.S.[14] A year later at the same convention, Shout! Factory announced they will continue the Super Sentai DVDs with Gosei Sentai Dairanger.[15]

The boy band Kanjani Eight has since 2005 had a series of skits called "Kanjani Sentai Eightranger" in which they dress up in different colored suits in their concerts and portray characters. In 2012, the skits were turned into a film titled Eightranger(エイトレンジャー,Eitorenjā?) starring the band as parodies of themselves.[citation needed]

Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger(非公認戦隊アキバレンジャー,Hikōnin Sentai Akibarenjā?) is a Toei-produced parody series that premiered in April 2012 on BS Asahi and Tokyo MX. Made by the same production team as the main programs, Akibaranger is geared towards an adult audience who were fans of the Super Sentai Series as children. The story features three otaku who live in the Akihabara district of Tokyo who receive technology from a scientist to fight an evil threat that at first only exists in their delusions, but eventually starts materializing itself in the real world. Like Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, Akibaranger also features guest appearances by veteran Super Sentai actors (as themselves rather than their characters), as well as voice actors and musicians who have worked in both anime and tokusatsu. A second season aired on April 2013.

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